Humanity's Strongest Soldier
by Lara Madeline Night
Summary: Not even he could protect the one he loved. Levi x Petra, spoilers inside so don't read if you haven't reached that part in the anime or manga yet. Rated T because there are too many feelings.


**Just me, ranting on about my favourite pairing in SnK. I don't own Attack on Titan (if I did Petra would still be alive and Annie would be dead.) aaand I don't think I own the plot either. I don't own anything...oh ****G****o****d what is the meaning of life if I don't even own th****e**** plot of my oneshot...**

***coughs* sorry. Anyway, flashbacks are in _italic_.**

* * *

_So...cold..._

"Tch. I need to clean the blood off..." he mumbled, his emotionless mask hiding his true emotions.

Just a few hours ago, he had witnessed the death of his squad, all killed by the Female Titan. Even though Erwin and Hanji had tried to comfort him, it was all in vain, as he kept the same blank expression as always and just shrugged the others off, locking himself in his office.

Truth be told, he didn't really cared about being clean right now. It was just habit, and his mind wandered off somewhere else.

"Hey Shorty!" Hanji's voice was heard as she almost violently knocked on the door.

However, he never even bothered to reply. He sat down at his desk, blood dripping on the papers from his hands. And to think that blood wasn't even his...

* * *

_"Something's wrong..." the Corporal thought furrowing his eyebrows. He was currently going to meet up with Erwin, but he couldn't help thinking about his own squad. _

_In a moment's thought he turned around, the familiar sound of the wires shooting from his 3D maneuver gear filling his ears. _

_He may have never showed his emotions to anyone, not even his squad members, but he really did cared about them. Especially for her..._

_When they were alone, he would always smile at her when her back was turned, and he would always smile at night, when he was thinking about her. _

_"They have to be alright." he told himself as he dashed trough the trees in the forest, towards where the Female Titan was. "Tch. Fools...They could never kill her by themselves..." he added mentally, and it wasn't from lack of trust in his squad. He had seen what she was capable of._

_"No..." he murmured, his cold eyes widening slightly. In front of him lay his squad members, dead, with their bodies covered in blood. Unfortunately for him, he had yet to see the worst part. _

_Blank eyes, void of life, staring up towards the sky, and crimson blood smeared on her skin. Slightly leaning against the tree, with her neck twisted at a somewhat odd angle, she seemed almost as if she was still awake...as if she was still alive..._

* * *

"Shorty I know how to pick a lock. Open up!" Hanji threatened, but when she received no answer, she left, the echoes of her footsteps getting lost among the shadows in the hallway.

Levi was left alone with his thoughts and memories, and he soon realised that he prefered it when Hanji was furiously knocking on the door, rather than having to face the silence and loneliness.

A few minutes later, the door burst open and the brunette walked in, using her heel to slam the door shut again, before walking over to him.

"I understand it's hard, but you can't lock yourself in your office forever. You...didn't even cleaned the blood off..." Zoe Hanji, squad leader and 'mad scientist' as some cadets were calling her said, surprised by the fact that the clean freak that Levi was didn't even bothered to wipe the blood off his hands.

"Listen, Shorty..." she began, moving the chair from the other side of the desk so that she would sit next to him.  
"I know how much it hurts...but you can't give up now.. you know-" her worlds blurred as he zoned out, not even listening to her. His gaze focused on the clock on the wall in front of him.

* * *

_"Petra..." he sighed softly, kneeling down next to the now lifeless body in front of him. Silently, he slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her towards him. The Female Titan had vanished already, and the cadets assigned to it took the rest of the bodies. He requested that he would take care of her. _

_Slowly standing up with her in his arms, a stray tear rolled down his cheek as he slowly walked towards the others, letting his emotionless mask take it's usual place. _

_"I love you...I always did...but now I can't even say this to you..." he thought looking at her face. By now large crimson spots were present almost everywhere on his uniform, an__d__ he didn't seemed to mind that. _

* * *

"-...after all, you are humanity's Strongest Soldier..." Hanji finished, gently patting his back.

"No."

"Wha...what?"

"I said I'm not." he answered sharply, turning his head towards her.

"Yes you are, don't be silly..." she replied, blinking a few times. Of course he was, no one doubted that.

"If I'm the strongest soldier, humanity lost hope today." he answered, a bit more quietly, staring down at the papers on his desk and the small red droplets of blood on them.

"Very well Shorty...I'll talk to you later I...have to go talk to Erwin..." Hanji said with a slight sigh. The day's events drained her out too, and she didn't really had the emotional strength to argue with him at the moment.

"Wait...how did you opened the door? Did you actually picked the lock?" he asked.  
"No, Erwin gave me the key..." she answered walking away and closing the door.

Behind her, Levi remained, staring blankly ahead of him.

After a while, he got up and walked over to the window, watching sadly as the cadets lined up the bodies that they were able to save from the titans. Petra's was not among them.

"Not even Humanity's Strongest Soldier couldn't save the one he loved...is there really any hope left? " he whispered closing his eyes.


End file.
